ABSTRACT
The "case" referred to - the 1979 Ann Arbor case argued before Justice Joiner - has come to be known as the Black English TriaU Eleven African-American plaintiffs had been placed in remedial special education classes based on pathological linguistic evaluations that failed to take into account their linguistic heritage as speakers of African-American vernacular English (AA VE). Although Judge Joiner ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, he did so based on the issue of "teacher training" and left the matter of "linguistic classification" unresolved. Should African-American children who speak standard English be considered as "language minority students," which was advocated by the Ebonics resolutions that were adopted by the Oakland School Board in their controversial resolutions of 18 December 1996 and 15 January 1997? Based on Judge Joiner's ruling one must conclude they should be.
